LOGO

Arizona Corporation CommissionSafety Division

www.napsr.org

Robert Millerrmiller@azcc.gov

NAPSR

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PIPELINE SAFETY REPRESENTATIVES

NAPSR - is the national association representing the State pipeline safety inspectors in the contiguous United States as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Through a unique partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation, NAPSR members have oversight responsibilities for safe and reliable transportation of natural gas and hazardous liquids through pipelines.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PIPELINE SAFETY REPRESENTATIVES

State pipeline safety personnel make up more than 75% of the State/federal inspection workforce.

NAPSR provides these inspectors with a venue to share best practices, enhance communications with our federal counterparts, raise new issues, and influence policy.

NAPSR is recognized by Congress, the courts, federal agencies, and the media as the national voice of the State pipeline safety community.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PIPELINE SAFETY REPRESENTATIVES

NAPSR members have direct safety authority over more than 96% of regulated intrastate gas systems and 32% of hazardous liquid systems in the U.S.

Most interstate pipeline inspectors are federal government employees focusing upon 12% of the gas infrastructure in the US while States monitor the remaining 88%.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PIPELINE SAFETY REPRESENTATIVES

Recent statistics indicate that NAPSR members have safety authority of about 92% of the over two million miles of gas distribution pipelines in the country.

Since their inception exiting regulations, industry standards and recommended practices have provided a means of establishing industry standards that has made the transportation of hazardous gas and liquids by pipeline the safest and most efficient means of transportation.

Recent History

Pipeline incidents in 2010 and 2011 revealed management system weaknesses as contributing factors. The NTSB Marshall, MI incident report stated:

Evidence from this accident and from the San Bruno accident indicates that company oversight of pipeline control center management and operator performance was deficient.

The agency found that a Pipeline Safety Management System would improve performance through top management leadership.

NTSB RecommendationsImplementation of SMSs in transportation systems by elevating SMSs to its Most Wanted List.

SMSs continuously identify, address, and monitor threats to the safety of company operations by doing the following:

Proactively address safety issues before they become incidents/accidents.

Document safety procedures and requiring strict adherence to the procedures by safety personnel.

Treat operator errors as system deficiencies and not as reasons to punish and intimidate operators.

Require senior company management to commit to operational safety.

Identify personnel responsible for safety initiatives and oversight.

Implement a non-punitive method for employees to report safety hazards.

Continuously identify and address risks in all safety-critical aspects of operations.

Provide safety assurance by regularly evaluating (or auditing) operations to identify and address risks.

The Goal is Improved Safety

Pipeline safety stakeholders in conjunction with the American Petroleum Institute (API) have been working for the past 20 months to develop a comprehensive framework of recommended practices for pipeline safety and integrity procedures across the United States.  

Result: New API Recommended Practice 1173 Pipeline Safety Management System specific to pipeline operators

across the United States.

Participants Working to Develop an SMS Recommended Practice

Ron McClain, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Chair Mark Hereth, P-PIC, Content Editor Scott Collier, Buckeye Partners Tom Jensen , Explorer Pipeline Paul Eberth, Enbridge Pipelines Brianne Metzger-Doran, Spectra Energy Tracey Scott, Alliance Pipeline William Moody, Southwest Gas Nick Stavropoulos, Pacific Gas and Electric Steve Prue, Small Gas Distribution John Bresland, Public – Subject Matter Expert Stacey Gerard, Public – Subject Matter Expert Jeff Wiese, PHMSA Linda Daugherty, PHMSA (alternate) Edmund Baniak, API (Standards Support) Robert Miller, AZ Corporation Commission Massoud Tahamtani, VA State Corporation Commission Bob Beaton, NTSB (Ex Officio) Kate Miller, AGA Scott Currier, INGAA Peter Lidiak, API

Direct Participants

4 – Liquids Pipelines 4 – Natural Gas Pipelines 1 – City Distribution 3 – Trade Organizations 4 – Regulators

2-PHMSA 2-NAPSR

1 – NTSB 3 – Public – SME’s 1 – Contract Engineering 1 – Standards

Organization

* Plus alternates

The Goal is Improved Safety

RP 1173: General

This recommended practice provides guidance to pipeline

operators for developing and maintaining a pipeline safety

management system (PSMS)

It builds upon and augments existing requirements and is

not Intended to duplicate requirements of any other

consensus standard or regulations.

While no one can predict future events this RP was not

developed with the intention of it becoming a regulation, it

is our intention and hope that RP 1173 will be widely

accepted by industry and implemented.

The Goal is Improved Safety

RP 1173: General

Safe and effective pipeline operations requires awareness and

management of many linked activities. These activities include

but limited to designating, constructing, operating, maintaining

and managing the pipeline.

Major accidents with high consequences rarely occur due to a

safety breakdown of a single activity but instead occur because of

an alignment of weaknesses across multiple activities.

While safety efforts may be applied individually to each activity

more effective safety performance is achieved when viewing

the linked activities as processes.

The Goal is Improved Safety

RP – 1173: Goal This document is intended to provide operators with a framework to review an existing PSMS or develop and implement a new PSMS.

Newly developing or improving an existing PSMS will enhance effectiveness of risk management and enable continual improvement of pipeline safety performance.

The intent of the framework is to comprehensively define managerial elements that can identify, manage and reduce risks throughout the entirety of a pipeline’s lifecycle.

The Goal is Improved Safety

RP 1173: FlexibilityThe framework is to be applied with flexibility to account for the current state of development of a particular element of management system within a company.In a company with an existing comprehensive PSMS is can serve as a basis for comparison and review between the RP and the operators system. In a company with a partial but not a comprehensive PSMS the RP will provide a means to integrate and add to those efforts to establish a comprehensive PSMS.For those companies without a any elements of a PSMS adoption of the RP would provide to them a starting point from which they could build a comprehensive PSMS.In all cases operator are intended to have the flexibility to apply this RP as appropriate to their specific needs.

The Goal is Improved Safety

RP 1173: ScalabilityThe framework of 1173 is also intended to be scalable for pipeline operators of varying size and scope. We recognize that the size of operators can vary from thousands employed by the larger operators to only a few employees employed at a small LDC or municipal operator.The 10 essential elements comprising the framework of 1173 apply to organizations of any size.The framework elements and the principles underlying it are broadly applicable, and strongly recommended operators of all sizes. The level of detail in each pipeline operator’s PSMS should be appropriate for the size of their operation and the risk to the public and enviorment.

The Goal is Improved Safety

RP 1173: Essential ElementsLeadership and Management CommitmentStakeholder EngagementRisk ManagementOperational ControlsIncident Investigation, Evaluation and Lessons LearnedSafety AssuranceManagement Review and Continuous ImprovementEmergency Preparedness and ResponseCompetence, Awareness and Training Documentation and Record Keeping

The Goal is Improved Safety

RP 1173: Safety CultureSafety culture is the collective set of attitudes, values, norms, and beliefs that a pipeline operators employees and contractor personnel share with respect to risk and safety. A positive safety culture is one where employees and contactor personnel collaborate; have positive attitudes towards compliance; feels responsible for public safety, for each other’s safety, and for the health of the business; and fundamentally believe in non-punitive reporting. Maintaining a positive safety culture requires continual diligence to address issues including complacency, fear of reprisal, over confidence, and normalization of devience. A positive safety culture can exist without a formal PSMS, but an effective PSMS cannot exist without a positive safety culture.

THE ELEMENTS

Leadership AND Management Commitment Top management shall establish goals and objectives Commitment expressed as policy Documented roles and responsibilities of management Create a culture of two way communication throughout

organization and contractors of SMS commitment

Stakeholder Engagement

Regulatory interaction

Public awareness programs

Pipeline and Informed Planning Alliance (PIPA)

THE ELEMENTS

Risk Management Integrity management programs Other relevant data sources

Operational Controls Procedures Standards Management of change

Incident Investigation, Evaluation and Lessons Learned

Incident debrief

Procedure and components (lab) review/revision

Organizational communication as needed

THE ELEMENTS

Safety Assurance

Quality control activities

Key performance indicators

Operational Quality Assurance

Continuous improvement loop (activities and SMS)

Management Review and Continuous Improvement Annual reviews by top management evaluate if performance goals and objectives have been met ensure risk management effectiveness and improvement recommendations for improvement integrated into next iteration

of PSMS plan

THE ELEMENTS

Emergency Preparedness and Response

Emergency response plan

Emergency response training facility

Liaison with first responders

Competence, Awareness, and Training

All personnel including contractors have the necessary KSAs

Provide training to enable development and implementation of PSMS elements.

Establish a training schedule to ensure personnel and contractors are updated

Documentation and Record Keeping

Conclusion RP 1173, will assist the operator by identifying and addressing

safety issues in a pipeline’s lifecycle, including the design, construction, operation, maintenance, integrity management and abandonment of pipelines at the earliest stage to prevent conditions that may ultimately result in an incident.

We are confident that RP 1173 is a PSMS that enhances pipeline safety in a practical way while implementing guidelines for continuous improvement.

A second workshop was recently conducted and we are currently in the process of reviewing, evaluating and responding to all the comments and recommendations provided following the workshop.

All comments will be addressed but not necessarily incorporated into the document as ANSI requires. After the comment period, API members will vote whether to accept or reject the document as a recommended practice applicable to all pipeline operators.

Questions